Economy hops: thank craft brewers

They create jobs, contribute much more impact than Comic-Con

Craft brewers and brewpubs created $299.5 million in economic impact in the county in 2011, according to a study by the National University System Institute for Policy Research. That's 1.5 times the impact of Comic-Con. That year, there were an estimated 497 brewery workers and 1,133 brewpub employees. An additional 1,630 jobs were created indirectly as a result of the ripple or multiplier effect. In total, that's 2,796 jobs. As of June of last year, the county had 52 small beer manufacturing licenses, more than double the amount in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Comments

Of all the cities in the US that could have become hotbeds of micro-brewing and craft brewing, SD is most unlikely. No tradition of special or traditional brews, last brewery in town closed decades before, relatively few Germans or Belgians (who are the biggest beer drinkers in the world), and sitting on the border of Mexico. And yet it happened, and will continue. The county needs some sort of signature industry, and maybe craft brewing will be it. Surely better imagery than that of being home of drones that are used to spy, destroy and kill. "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."

This is a cool local industry. The restaurants going along with these places are good too - Karl Strauss just added a 4S-Ranch location, and Stone has a nice restaurant in Escondido. I'm not even sure if those places are considered microbreweries anymore - I guess craft beer is the term for that. The small craft beer places seem to be popping up business parks hidden in between high tech startups. Personally, I like IPA's with ridiculous amounts of hops.